The Happy Prince

I had some great young men advisors when I was growing up. There is one in particular who shared a Christmas story with us one Sunday. It was a short story entitled The Happy Prince. The story is about a gilded statue of a prince in the middle of a city. The statue has some jewels on it and many people in the city admire it. A self-centered swallow comes along as it is migrating south to Egypt for the winter and one night decides to nest at the statue. The statue of the prince talks to the swallow and convinces the swallow carry the ruby from his sword to an impoverished mother at a poor house. The swallow does so and returns to the statue for the night. The next day, he announces that he's leaving but the statue petitions the swallow to remain one more day and take a different jewel to someone else. This goes on for many days until all the jewels and the gold leafing are removed and distributed to the poor in the city. Finally, the swallow succumbs to the cold and just before dying, he kisses the prince on the lips and falls to his feet. The lead heart in the statue breaks.

I won't give away the ending. It's a great short story! If you are interested, I would recommend reading it. You can find the story of The Happy Prince here.

Merry Christmas!